Longtime Oktibbeha County Fire Services Coordinator Kirk Rosenhan knew it was just a matter of time before a burn ban would be enacted.
“We knew it was coming,” Rosenhan said. “We were waiting on the (Mississippi) Forestry Commission and our board of supervisors to put it in place.”
By Monday, almost half of Mississippi’s counties had enacted burn bans. Clay County’s burn ban was announced Friday, but Oktibbeha and Lowndes counties had not enacted bans.
On Wednesday, Gov. Phil Bryant extended the ban to all 82 counties at the request of the forestry commission.
“We welcome anything that will make it safer for our residents and property owners,” Rosenhan said. “Even when there aren’t bans, we always caution citizens to be very careful about burning on dry or windy days.”
Rosenhan said the threat of fires is especially concerning for those who live in rural communities.
“These fires can happen in the city, certainly, but there are special circumstances in rural areas where it can really cause a big problem –what we call urban interface, where the woods meet up with somebody’s house,” he said.
Rosenhan said his fire department uses brush trucks to pick up brush and limbs that can be fuel for fires. Firefighters also receive special training for the brush fires that can pop up without warning during dry, windy conditions.
MFC forester Russell Bozeman said his agency responded to 239 wildfires that consumed roughly 4,200 acres in the state in September.
“With the current drought conditions and little rainfall in the forecast, we appreciate Gov. Bryant implementing this statewide burn ban in order to protect the public,” Bozeman said. “The MFC will continue to monitor conditions and provide the public with updates on the burn ban as needed.”
No immediate relief from the dry weather appears to be on the way.
“We do have a front coming through over the weekend and while there could be some rainfall, it’s not likely to be very heavy,” said Janae Elkins, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Jackson. “Our seven-day forecast doesn’t indicate we’ll have significant rain.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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